President Barack Obama and Bud Tent owner Mike Cunningham II, left, make a toast during a campaign stop Monday at the Iowa State Fair. / David Purdy/The Register

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President Barack Obama’s impact on what arguably is the Iowa State Fair’s most storied watering hole became a morning-after mini-debate over the breakfast bacon — thanks to a tweet from Sen. Chuck Grassley, as well as fairgrounds chatter.

Obama’s fair stop Monday evening required a temporary shutdown of the popular Bud Tent, the heart of fairgrounds nightlife at the intersection of East 33rd Street and Grand Avenue. Fairgoers eager to greet the president were herded inside, screened and scanned by the Secret Service, and penned in by yellow caution tape. Gate 15 was closed shortly after 6 p.m., and the entire production took over the area for at least two hours. The president’s sleek black coach bus pulled away from the Bud Tent by 8:30 p.m.

There are “two sides to this story,” said Mike Cunningham II, the third- generation owner of the 65-year-old Bud Tent.

On one hand, Cunningham, 39, appreciated the historical significance of Obama’s visit: His great-grandfather, Lloyd Cunningham, was secretary of the fair board from 1942 to 1962 and was on hand to greet then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower when Ike visited the centennial fair in 1954 with Iowa’s own President Herbert Hoover in tow. (That was the first of four visits by sitting presidents, followed by Gerald Ford in 1975, George W. Bush in 2002 and Obama on Monday.)

On the other hand, the small-business-owner side of Cunningham fumes that the president “put a damper on what I’m trying to do here.” His Bud Tent was shut down at the most lucrative time of day. A popular rock cover band, Hairball, was about to perform at the Susan B. Knapp Amphitheater next door to legions of thirsty fans.

“I was in a position to make a campaign donation against my will,” said Cunningham, a Republican.

Cunningham played the gracious host during the president’s visit. He smiled, posed for photos, raised a beer with Obama and gifted him a “Save Water; Drink Beer” T-shirt.

A tweet from Grassley on Monday evening, in the senator’s trademark abbreviated social media lingo, offered one of the first signs of disgruntlement: “How does PresO justify havin secret service shut down the bud tent @ the state fair nd the owner told me he loses 50,000 n 1 nite.”

Cunningham cited a more accurate figure for what he lost in sales: $25,000. He appreciated that fellow fair vendor Barksdale allowed him to set up his own beer station near the amphitheater stage and recoup some dollars from the Hairball rabble.

Bud Tent beer tickets sell for $6 apiece — one ticket for a regular beer, or two tickets for a large 24-ounce cup. So $25,000 worth (without factoring in any lost food sales) means at least 4,166 tickets — or perhaps a few thousand cups of beer, depending on which size fairgoers chose.

The Bud Tent per its contract pays 17.5 percent of its annual gross beer sales to the fair. A total of $105,875 in beer revenue was received by the fair last year.

To be clear, Obama did fork over cash to buy his own (small) beer as he also offered to buy a round for 10 or so fairgoers in the vicinity.

The vending carts along East 33rd Street also were shut down, but the other drink tents along the Grand Concourse seemed to enjoy business as usual.

Gary Kirke, owner of the nearby Jalapeño Pete’s, said that the presidential visit had no effect on his sales.

Gary Slater, the fair’s manager, said that he and the fair board had little say in determining the site of the presidential visit. There had been brief chatter about an alternate space on the south side of the fairgrounds, which in terms of business impact “would’ve had the same result with just different names,” Slater said.

“I did ask (the White House) for as minimal a disruption as possible because of the commerce, economic viability of the fair,” he added.

The Sky Glider also was shut down in a nod to security — a true sign of presidential power on the fairgrounds if ever there was one.

“Certainly, keeping the president safe is a priority wherever he goes, and I guess we as Americans have to understand that,” Slater said.

The fair did try to salve wounds by approving the Bud Tent’s off-site sales at the Hairball concert and allowing Cunningham to tantalize fairgoers with discounted $4 beer tickets after 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Cunningham said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet replied to a phone message from Obama’s staff asking him to respond publicly to Grassley’s tweet. He considers the flap a “moot point” and wants to move on.

It could have been worse: At least the president didn’t try to stop for a beer Friday in the middle of the Bud Tent’s storied mega-party, East Side Night.

But maybe each Monday night of the fair from now on could be declared honorary Chicago South Side Night at the Bud Tent? Might be a good tourist gimmick. Toss in a bar game of presidential trivia, and get Grassley to tweet during the thing.